Orlando Philharmonic turns (mostly) melancholy at Calvary Orlando | Review
Opening the program was “Records from a Vanishing City,” a 2016 composition by Jessie Montgomery. The New York-based composer was inspired by the record collection she inherited from her mentor after his death. The work has eclectic passages, nicely handled by the musicians, who also ably captured the evocative emotional through-line: a dreamlike sensation of remembrance.
After the more introspective quality of the Montgomery piece, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 1911 “Petite Suite de Concert” was a bracing call from the mists of mourning and memory. Of course, if you know Coleridge-Taylor’s story, there’s sadness to be found there, too.
The composer, born to a British mother and African father, found worldwide success but suffered financial problems. He and his white wife faced prejudice from turn-of-the-century society because of his mixed race. Coleridge-Taylor died of pneumonia — at age 37 — in 1912.
Among his legacy is this upbeat suite, a favorite, with the delightful momentum of the first movement and the jolliness of the third, in which sprays of notes sound like laughter.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was one of Britain's most famous composers by the turn of the 20th century. In 1899, Coleridge married Jessie Walmisley, a white pianist and classmate of his since high school. Jessie's family was very opposed to the marriage because of Coleridge-Taylor's mixed race and did everything possible to stop it with no luck. The couple endured much hatred and were the target of abuse from many on the streets but remained married until Coleridge's death at the young age of 37. (Creative Commons)
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